Monday, September 12, 2011
You can ALREADY read!
A major concept I had never thought of that stuck out to me in the readings was teaching children they could already read. Donna Bell focused on this in her and Jarvis' "Letting Go of 'Letter of the Week.'" Bell says most children coming into kindergarten have not had experiences with books or reading and therefore believe they do not know how to read. We as teachers have to show the children they already know how to read. I loved the concept of using items from their day to day lives with words written on them such as McDonald's or well known movies. As they shout out the answers it not only shows the children they can read and understand the words, it unites the classroom. I believe this method will give students confidence and get them excited to learn more. I think it will also help put all of your students on the same level as most of the things you use almost every child in the class room will recognize. When children are excited and confident in their learning, there is no limit to what they can do.
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The same concept really stuck out to me as well. I think that by showing the students that they already know how to read helps their confidence and allows them to build off of what they already know.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. There are so many words that children of all ages know exactly what they mean. They may not understand that the concept behind it is reading, but it's definitely a foundation to be built upon. I agree that it's so important to show them that they CAN do it ... I feel like every great teacher shows even her lowest achieving students that they CAN do it, even if it's in their own way.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Julienne. We can also focus on what kids already know in older grades, as well. As students get more advanced, we can point out what portion of the word they may know, and even what common words they have already mastered.
ReplyDeleteI too focused on the use of environmental print to show young children they can read. I think it is great that we can take something so simple as a McDonald's logo and instill confidence in young readers. While children come into school with different reading levels, it is a pretty awesome thing to think that as teachers we can unify our class and get everyone excited about growing in their literacy!
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